


Thank You For Letting Me In (And For Not Giving Up)

by nathynoir313



Series: Who We Are ( I Will Find You Again) [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien just needed a friend, Alternate Universe - Never Met, Awkwardness, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Bonding, F/M, First day as heroes flashback, I guess sort of fluff?, Reminiscing, They stablished cute traditions, They were a little awkward in the beggining, cuteness, first encounter, i don't know what to say about this one, it isn't sad, so I'll say it's fluff.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 01:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15159104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nathynoir313/pseuds/nathynoir313
Summary: Adrien had learned two important things from his nearly 2 years ( until that present time ) of being Ladybug’s partner .[...]“Sure, I can start. One of the first things I’d like to share is...I don’t celebrate my birthday.”Chat looked at her, still smiling, looking for a sign that it was a joke. Seeing as her demeanor was serious and tense, the smile slipped from his face, and he made the question he would think back about in the future. How blunt could he possibly be to ask something of the sort?“Would you mind if I asked...why?”





	Thank You For Letting Me In (And For Not Giving Up)

**Author's Note:**

> Another quick drabble! This one has been rolling on my phone for a while, I was unsure as to post or not, but I felt i wa sweet and showed some bonding time between the two of them, so I'm posting it! Hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> Ps: It's related to both Lay Your Head On Me ( Hate To See Your Heart Break ) and Wonderstruck, but it can be read separetely! I'm just exploring some possibilities based on Wonderstruck and in this Never Met as Civilians AU ( Alternate Universe).

Adrien had learned two important things from his nearly 2 years ( until that present time ) of being Ladybug’s partner .

 One: Ladybug didn’t like to celebrate her birthday.

He had learned that one since the beginning.

...

On the first day they had become Ladybug and Chat Noir, she was really closed up, didn’t talk much, and seemed insecure as well as a little down. She forced a little smile on their first encounter pre-akuma - arranged by their kwamis so they could meet each other- trying to ease the tension she seemed to be unconsciously building up. Ponytail swinging with the rush of wind. They were 18 at the time.

“Hey, there. You’re Chat Noir, right? I’m Ladybug. Nice to meet you!”

She waved a little, reaching out with her fist, a gesture that surprised even the young girl at how natural it felt. She felt comfortable enough around the young man to reach out her hand in a fist bump, instead of a formal handshake. That seemed like a good sign!

Chat let out a breath of relief. He thought she wouldn’t talk to him, but now he understood she must have been just as nervous as he was.

“Yeah, that’s right! I’m Chat Noir. Nice to meet you too!” He met her fist concluding the fist bump, feeling touched she opened up enough to share such a friendly and welcoming, yet simple, gesture with him. Letting out a soft smile, he pointed to his suit and to hers, looking up at her.

“So... this whole thing is pretty crazy, huh?”

“Tell me about it!” She let out a snort, seeming embarrassed by it right after. “Never expected something like this to come up at this moment in my life.”

Her laugh, although short - and a little out of place, like she wasn’t used to feeling that light lately- was contagious, and Adrien found himself laughing genuinely at this sweet stranger he would have as a partner from that day on.

“Yeah, neither did I.”

Her laugh subsided and her brow creased in thought. She let the smile slip, looking up at him, stance serious, her features tense. Her change in posture made his back automatically straighten, and his shoulders be drawn back, making him taller, as he was considering what she was about to say.

“How did you feel about The Oath?”

His ears drooped a little, shoulders hunching slightly, compared to his previous stance. Ladybug stared at his ears, finding their reaction to his emotions a bit funny, because it made him look like a real cat.

“Well...it was... a lot to absorb. But I didn’t find it in me to decline. It’s just...it felt like some sort of calling. They chose ‘us’ within thousands of other possibilities, and the ‘ _us_ ’.” He gestured to the two of them. “The fact that  _we_  were chosen has meaning, you know?  _We_  have responsibilities to answer for, that they considered us capable or at least willing to act upon. I don’t feel better than anyone at all, but I...”

He noticed that he was rambling a bit and stopped before he made a total fool of himself. He scratched at the back of his neck, feeling like he let out too much of his thoughts and feelings to someone he still didn’t know. Which he found funny, because he never did that to anyone before.

“I feel the same way.” She replied, now shyly.

He was so surprised he nearly tripped on his own feet.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I felt like it was something I had to do. A burden it was up to me to lift. To  _us_. Although I still don’t know you.”

She looked up at him with such a beautiful smile, that he couldn’t help but reply with one of his own.

“Yeah, but we’ll have time for that. Some of it, I hope.”

He looked at his ring worriedly, as if he might upset his little deity, the small kwami called Plagg. He didn’t seem dangerous, but he was still a little shaken after what he had made him say at The Oath.

He jumped a little at the small hand resting reassuringly on his shoulder. Bluebell met his green eyes, and he felt calmer. It was as soothing as staring at the blue sky during the day.

“Hey, it’s ok. They can’t hear what we say unless it risks what we swore to do regarding The Oath. We won’t let that happen. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to keep our conversations to ourselves. Trust me on this,ok?”

They weren’t close, barely knew the other, but Adrien could tell that she was being honest, and...he did feel like he could trust her. Adrien smiled gratefully at Ladybug, feeling like they would find a way to make things work between them.

“So... would you like to share some of the things we are allowed to on this first encounter?”

She spoke like it was a big deal, sounding all formal, but her eyes were playfully bright, like she was playing by the rules, but at the same time, she knew how to bend them.

“Oh, of course. Would you like to start?”

He replied with the same formality, but his face contorted itself in a cattish grin, looking as smug as he felt, like they were already going through a dance of do’s and don’ts.

If that was what being partners felt like, then he was totally excited to see what was to come.

“Sure, I can start. One of the first things I’d like to share is...I don’t celebrate my birthday.”

Chat looked at her, still smiling, looking for a sign that it was a joke. Seeing as her demeanor was serious and tense, the smile slipped from his face, and he made the question he would think back about in the future. How blunt could he possibly be to ask something of the sort?

“Would you mind if I asked...why?”

In the last two years, people who asked that question to Marinette received a bluebell glare and a dreadful silence with no explanation. They usually knew about what happened to Tomas, but asked that anyway. As if she was weird. Why would she want to miss out on her own birthday? That was their line of thinking. No thoughts on her dearest Tomas. For them, it was a matter of an important, self-centered event. They couldn’t understand her motives.

Simple. Her birthday had never been hers alone, and she couldn’t accept that now it had to be. She wouldn’t accept it. So she found it easier to talk her parents out of trying to celebrate it in the past two years and planned to keep doing that. The wound was too fresh, and she had barely been able to stop herself from crying just at the sound of her twin brother’s name.

But Chat was different from the other people. He didn’t know about Tomas. He wasn’t looking at her with pity in his eyes, judging her for that decision she made. His green eyes looked so easy to read for her. She could see his emotions all there in plain sight. At that moment, she could see a young man her age, just trying to understand.  _That’s new._

Marinette thought to herself. Breathing deeply once, she let out a lie, but a lie that didn’t hurt her as much as the truth did.

“I never had the habit of celebrating it. So it doesn’t feel...as happy and joyful for me as it does for other people. When the date arrives, please treat it like any other day. And no gifts.”

Chat listened to her explanation and request in silence.

“Okay. I was wondering though, would you be willing to make a deal?”

“What?” That caught her up by surprise. What could he possibly mean by that?

“Would you be willing to make a deal about your birthday?”

Marinette felt anger at the bottom of her stomach. Walls up.

“No. I have no reason to do that.”

It didn’t escape Chat’s vision the way her body seemed to recoil a bit, shoulders hunching as if she was getting ready to shut herself in.

“You know I’m not trying to hurt you, right? It’s just an offer. Let me explain it to you. Please?”

She looked up at him at last. His eyes were soft and pleading, his whole expression filled with honesty. The anger dissolved, and she let out a sigh. She felt like she had to apologize.

“I’m sorry. Go ahead, tell me your idea. I can’t promise I’ll like it, but I promise I’ll listen to it.”

His tail, answering to its own wishes, wrapped itself around her wrist gently. Adrien looked at the scene wide eyed, and his tail recoiled, back to swinging from side to side on his back.

“I’m sorry for that, it wasn’t my intent. I’m still trying to sort some of these things out.”

Looking at her, Adrien saw a sweet smile on her face, as if the action had caught her off-guard, but she didn’t mind it.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay. Thank you for letting me explain my offer. I appreciate it. So, I never got to celebrate my birthdays with a friend no matter how much I wanted to. First, because I never had any friends, and second, because my father would never allow me to ‘dwell in such futile celebrations’. “ Chat made air quotes with his fingers, looking displeased at what he was saying. “I’m not going to disrespect your wishes at all, but I’d like to be able to be with you for your birthday, even if it’s only with a small cupcake- with no candles and no birthday frosting, just the ordinary frosting- so I could share at least one birthday with a friend. My own birthday...well, if you still don’t- “

“I don’t mind celebrating your birthday. I might even make you a gift.” She let out a small, timid smile.

“Oh, thanks. And what about yours? Would you be up for it? It’s okay if you don’t want to though. It is a weird offer I guess.”

“Under one condition.”

Adrien was really surprised and happy. He thought he was going to get a straight forward ‘no’!

“Name it.”

“Bring two cupcakes. One for you, and one for both of us. I don’t want one all to myself, but I’ll share one with you. And it will make it less centered on me. This way, I’d accept your deal.”

Chat thought to himself that it was weird that she asked for two cupcakes instead of one, but decided that it was way too soon to point that out. He would let it pass - for now.

“Ok, I can do that. So can I take that as an official yes?”

Marinette still couldn’t figure out how that young man had managed to make her feel so light, regarding subjects that usually made her feel so heavy. Looking at Chat, she concluded that she wanted to begin a new phase. A new friendship. She had that opportunity with Chat.

Perhaps her miraculous had a much more meaningful side to it. It did not only grant her powers and a world worth of responsibilities. But amidst her torn heart, it had granted her a new beginning.

“Yes.”

...

Chat relished on the memory with a warmth filling his heart. The second thing she told about herself was that...

A rush of wind greeted him, interrupting his thoughts, l and he smiled before looking, already acknowledging the presence. 

There she was! 

Holding his two non-Birthday-frosted cupcakes, he smiled shyly at her, tilting his head, as if to motion her to the edge of the roof. As they had done in the last two years, they sat, legs swinging back and forth as they talked casually and comfortably to each other about everything and nothing, while eating the cupcakes - she took small bites at her half while he ate all at once an entire cupcake, chewing before tasting the other half.

Those moments were the simplest and yet the most precious friend’s birthday celebrations he could have ever asked to be a part of. Why were they so special to him? Because while he shot puns, jokes and talked freely with Ladybug, she would genuinely smile, laugh and reply back to him, with the same freedom to feel, to express and to...just  _be_  herself. And that was more than he could have ever hoped for.

**Author's Note:**

> So, if you'd like to leave a kudo or a comment, I'll love to hear what you have to say and to know if you've enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot! I'm @nathynoir313 on tumblr as well! Have a great week, thanks again!


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